THE Island was promised that the ministerial system would make government more responsive, efficient and streamlined. There are, alas, few signs that this promise has been honoured.

It is true to say that complex bureaucracies are seldom as quick on their feet as small organisations, but recent events have shown just how sluggish the States can be as a corporate body.

Through processes which senior politicians have recognised as too slow and too cautious the public sector has lost the opportunity to acquire offices at Lime Grove which were to have been used as new premises for the States police. A private sector company owned by State Street – the group which controls Mourant – stepped in to sign a 21-year lease on the property while States departments were dithering.

This in itself is an extraordinary turn of affairs, but it is nothing less than astonishing given the background of Lime Grove. The offices, which overlook the Tunnel roundabout, had been looking for tenants for almost as long as most people can remember. When plans were announced to move some police functions to the site, most Islanders will have assumed that it was there for the asking and that the owners would have eagerly grasped any reasonable offer.

Unfortunately – and some would say unforgivably – no fewer than five departments, including the Treasury and Property Holdings, were involved in negotiations said to have lasted at least 18 months. As a result, government was gazumped, having fallen prey to what Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand has described as a ‘risk-averse culture’.

Quite rightly, Scrutiny will investigate exactly how this deal went sour, but the investigation will amount to closing the stable door well after the horse has not only bolted but disappeared over the distant horizon.

And irrespective of Scrutiny’s findings, we can be reasonably sure of two things – that no political or administrative heads will roll and the police will continue to struggle with inadequate facilities at their premises in Rouge Bouillon.

The best that the force – and the Island – can hope for is that a suitable alternative to Lime Grove can be found quickly and that States Members and their advisers will learn some important lessons from this regrettable and almost ludicrous chain of events.